Study on the mechanism of apoptosis induced by curcumin in cervical cancer HeLa cells

OBJECTIVE To investigate the apoptosis induced by curcumin in cervical cancer HeLa cell line and its mechanism in vitro.METHODS The HeLa cells were treated with 10,20,30,40 and 50 μmol·L-1 curcumin for 24 hours respectively.The apoptotic rate of HeLa cells induced by curcumin was detected by flow cytometry based on Annexin V-FITC/PI staining.Morphological changes of apoptosis based on AO/EB staining were observed with fluorescent microscope.The expression level of caspase-3 and caspase-8 were detected by immuno-cytochemistry method.RESULTS Flow cytometry analysis showed that curcumin could induce the apoptosis of HeLa cells,the apoptotic rates were increased with the increased of curcumin concentration.The AO/EB staining showed that the total number of HeLa cells decreased with the increasing of curcumin concentration,and part of the cells appeared apoptotic morphological characteristics obviously.The immuno-histochemistry staining indicated that the expressions of caspase-3 and caspase-8 proteins increased in a curcumin concentration-dependent manner.CONCLUSION The HeLa cells apoptosis induced by curcumin could be achieved through caspase-dependent pathway.